Robot

CES 2016: INTEL AND SEGWAY HAVE TEAMED UP TO CREATE A HOVERBOARD ROBOT BUTLER

August 16, 2018

The strange device will apparently be opened up to developers in the second half of this year Just in case you didn’t know that the future is right now, Segway and Intel have teamed up to create a hoverboard robot butler. The sci-fi device, which is a self-balancing personal transporter with a built-in interactive robot, was […]

It’s harder to turn off robot begging for its life–study

August 4, 2018

German researchers found that turning off a robot became harder when it begged human subjects not to. With the fast rise of artificial intelligence and its increasing adoption into everyday products, it somehow makes sense to ask just how interactive technology will be in the future, and how humans will behave in the face of a […]

A Home Robot Could Be Amazon’s Next Gamble

April 26, 2018

Amazon plans to bring a home robot to market as early as 2019. Codenamed “Vesta,” after the Roman goddess of home and family, the project is several years old, but hiring for it recently has ramped up with an eye toward placing prototypes in employees’ homes by the end of the year, Bloomberg reported Monday, […]

Ubiquity Robotics Launches Beefy ROS Development Platform

March 16, 2018

With a payload of 100 kilograms, Magni aims to make it easy to prototype a useful mobile robot There are any number of robotics development platforms out there, and we’ve written about most of them—TurtleBots, iRobot Creates, and more recently robots like Misty. Generally, these platforms are intended to be used for experimenting with sensors and software, […]

This robo-bug can improvise its walk like a real insect

March 10, 2018

There are plenty of projects out there attempting to replicate the locomotion of insects, but one thing that computers and logic aren’t so good at is improvising and adapting the way even the smallest, simplest bugs do. This project from Tokyo Tech is a step in that direction, producing gaits on the fly that the researchers never […]

A Floating ‘Brain’ Will Assist Astronauts Aboard the Space Station

March 4, 2018

The crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) will soon welcome a new member — one that is 3D-printed from metal and plastic and is described by its creators as “a kind of flying brain.” It goes by the name CIMON, short for “Crew Interactive Mobile Companion.” Built by the aerospace design […]

The Mini Robodog From Boston Dynamics Can Now Open Doors to Get Out

February 21, 2018

SpotMini, Boston Dynamics’s dog-like quadruped robot, is back, and it’s learned a new trick. The robot, which was unveiled in June 2016 and then updated in November 2017, can now open doors and hold them open. While opening a door is slightly old hat for a Boston Dynamics robot – Atlas barrelled through a push-bar door two years ago – SpotMini’s […]

Scientists Have Built a Robot That Actually Sweats While Exercising

February 8, 2018

Kenshiro and his younger “sibling” Kengoro are two robots that were built with unprecedented similarity to human anatomy at the University of Tokyo. Their unique design make them able to move in ways looking closer to natural human movement than any preceding robot. In fact, Kengoro’s exercising ability likely rivals many human couch potatoes. The […]